Preparing For New Arrivals

There’s an undeniable link between the upcoming welcome of a new baby and the feeling that things at home need to change. We’re not talking about waving goodbye to the lie ins on a Sunday morning while watching Rimmer and Lovejoy’s Sunday Brunch, although that will almost certainly draw to a close for a few months. The change is more to do with the decor and layout of the home, which will need to change to accommodate the baby that will become the main focus for the next eighteen years.

For some, it’s as simple as decorating the nursery, if you’re lucky to have a spare room in the literal sense. If it’s a guest room rather than a spare room that you have, you might be considering giving up the study/office room that is currently under a mountain of paper, and moving the computer into the dining room. For more advanced home redesigns, you might be thinking about getting the builders in, or if you’ve got an ever growing family, fitting a new bathroom so getting a few quotes from local plumbers is on the cards.

There’s so much to consider in advance, aside from the more obvious parts about the delivery. If you’ve got kids already, don’t forget the labour speed dial. That’s not the phone number of the local hospital maternity ward, it’s far more difficult than that. You’ll need somebody very reliable that understands that babies decide to start their journey and arrive at the most unearthly time. You want someone that you know will answer their phone at quarter to four in the morning, and not roll over and go back to sleep. Unless its a neighbour, they’ll need a car, because yours will be heading for the hospital car park as soon as possible. They’ll need a car seat if your older kids need to get to school, and they’ll need to know where to point that car to get there. A good tip is to have them stay over a couple of times as a practice run, as it’ll be good for the kids to be used to waking up with your labour speed dial in the house. Even more importantly, though, it’s important for your emergency guest to see the morning routine in action. For the kids it’s going to be unnerving not to have mum and dad around, and even more to know that there’s going to be a baby taking over and ruling the roost very soon.

So there’s a great little scratch in the surface of the planning that lies ahead for you. It’s great fun having a baby, isn’t it?